A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for automating the process of casting articles. It appears to be especially well suited for use in automating the casting of several plumbing fixtures at the same time.
B. Description of the Art
It is known in the art to utilize a manually drivable "stripper" ring to assist in separating a molded part from a mold member. This is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,908. The art has also tried to automate the holding of mold parts together during casting using hydraulic driven clamps (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,064) and to design machines capable of casting of several identical objects at the same time. However, improvement is still needed in automating the casting process, especially with respect to plumbing fixtures and the like where extremely fragile castings must be removed from the mold.
In this regard, manually drivable stripper rings are time consuming to use, and may damage the contact surface of the molded product. They do not provide sufficient control over the amount of pressure the fragile casting edges are exposed to. Existing systems are also deficient in the areas of automating the process of separating the mold halves. If not properly done, the fragile molded part can be damaged during this process aside from the excessive time required to undo multiple manual clamps and to manually separate mold halves. Thus, an improved molding apparatus and method are needed.